Smash Palace
Smash Palace
Naeem Mohaiemen
Daily Star, November 2, 2008
A cycle of outrage over baul statues has created many dissonant coalitions: youngbloods (Charu Kala protests), musicians (bauls and fusion bands), signifiers (wear a gamcha in support), and shushil (umbrellas at National Museum). And diverse editorial tactics: cowardly capitulation (Afsan Chowdhury, New Age, 20/10/08), stop it before it’s too late (Kamal Lohani, Janakantha, 21/10/08), king’s men (Hana Shams, Daily Star, 21/10/08), core heritage (Inam Ahmed, Prothom Alo, 28/10/08), middle ages (Audity Falguny, Shamokal, 29/10/08), Islam’s tolerance tradition (Humayun Ahmed, Prothom Alo, 27/10/08).
[Photo: STAR]
Humayun Ahmed is worth studying, because the novelist presumes exhaustive theology research is needed to settle the issue. Invoke Byzantine painting of Mother Mary spared by the Prophet, Sheikh Sadi’s mazaar statue, paintings of animals preserved by Hazrat Omar, and IOJ will retreat to their barracks. It is what Jeebesh Bagchi described in the context of debates about Kashmiri Pandits as “the mistaken belief that if you just keep piling up enough facts, the other side will be stunned into silence.” Theological debates, important as they are, will not be sufficient to navigate a political conflict.